Well said Albo and I think that speaks to a deep rooted problem in the NRL. The Storm and Roosters are headband shoulders above all the other teams when it comes to roster management. They enter a season looking to win as opposed to the Panthers who were seemingly intent on developing.

Ultimately the Panthers are a club that will forever be a feeder club for the Storm/Roosters etc. Jennings, Sivo, DWZ, CHN, Blake, Cook (was on the books for a while!), Koroisau (he’s coming home thankfully), Graham, Austin, Moylan…the list goes on.

Salary cap constraints will always mean that the Panthers will never be able to hold on to all of their talented juniors unfortunately.

Kikau is a great weapon to have on the edge but for much of the season of that option didn’t work there didn’t seem to be a plan b in place.

Maloney leaving is a huge void and it looks like they’re hoping that Luai will be able to fill that void although he is a long way off the quality of Maloney. Young Matt Burton impressed on debut against the Sharks and could come into contention.

Great point regarding the transfer ban. It could definitely be a blessing in disguise as it does allow the conveyor belt of talent an opportunity to shine.

Chelsea fans are intelligent enough to know there’ll be lots of ups and downs this season but ultimately they’ll stand by Lampard and get behind their academy players. I think they may surprise a few people.

You make a good point with the substitutions. It’s not often talked about but substitutions are crucial in football and as Lampard gains more experience I’m sure this will be an aspect of his management that will improve.

Under the existing regime Newcastle are a circus but that wasn’t the case when Owen signed. They had finished a disappointing 14th the previous season but had made the semi finals of the FA Cup and the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup so the club wasn’t in a bad position compared to now.

Owen was going to be the signing that would reinvigorate the team and the city. On paper a strike force of Owen and Shearer was mouthwatering. Except Owen didn’t want to be there and it all spectacularly unravelled.